Raiganj, July 27: The North Bengal State Transport Corporation’s Raiganj divisional engineer has been served a showcause notice for allegedly failing to take initiative to repair 48 buses and operate them on different roads.

Dipankar Dutta was issued the notice by the corporation’s chairperson Rabindranath Ghosh. The chairperson said the buses were parked in the corporation’s five depots in the Raiganj division and they could have been run on profitable routes. Dutta said he has already replied to the notice. He said the buses could not be repaired as necessary parts could not be obtained or there was shortage of funds. “Now that the chairperson has passed the instruction, we would surely take up the task to repair the buses soon,” said the engineer.

Alipurduar: One person was trampled to death and six huts were damaged when an elephant raided Dimdima tea estate on Tuesday night. Foresters said Kario Mahali, 70, came out of her hut when she saw the elephant. The animal chased her for some distance and then trampled her to death. The elephant had entered the garden from the nearby Dalgaon forest.

Alipurduar: A 15-year-old deaf and mute girl was allegedly raped by a youth on Dalgaon Tea Estate on Tuesday. The girl was alone in the house when Rajat Oraon, a resident of the garden, allegedly raped her. Falakata police said Oraon is absconding.

Siliguri: The executive council meeting of North Bengal University could not be held on Wednesday because of a demonstration by employees to protest the “illegal appointment” of deputy registrar S.K Rakshit as the acting registrar. The meeting could not be held as around 100 members of the NBU Employees’ Association prevented 12 council members from entering the vice-chancellor’s chamber. This is the third council meeting to be cancelled in the past two months. The VC said he would write to the governor, chief minister and higher education minister about the impasse prevailing at the university.